Article doesn't mention Obama!?
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/06/148429-president-obama-stripping-washington-redskins-trademarks-owner-refused-give-team-name/This is how the Obama administration rolls. Get in a confrontation with the president, and some IRS branch patent office makes trouble for you. That’s how “community organizers” do business. That’s the Chicago Way.
The latest example? After Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder made it painfully, abundantly clear that he believes their team name is a tribute to their historic legacy and an honorable reflection of the spirit they aim to incorporate, a lowly patent office clerk just went ahead and cancelled their trademarks.
Mashable reports on this strange, politically vindictive, and probably illegal turn-of-events:
The decision from the U.S. administrator read, “…these registrations must be cancelled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered…”
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The move affects six registrations and was brought about by a petition from five Native Americans. The office found that “a substantial composite of Native Americans found the term REDSKINS to be disparaging in connection with respondent’s services during the relevant time frame of 1967-1990.”
As for radical activists feigning to speak for all Native Americans (check out this photo essay response to a recent anti-Redskins ad) as well as for the American people, Dan Snyder’s attorney Lanny J. Davis put it well:
“As a supporter of President Obama, I am sure the president is not aware that in the highly respected Annenberg Institute poll (taken 2004) with a national sample of Native Americans, 9 out of 10 Native Americans said they were not bothered by the name the ‘Washington Redskins.’
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“The president made these comments to the Associated Press, but he was apparently unaware that an April 2013 AP poll showed that eight out of ten of all Americans in a national sample don’t think the Washington Redskins name should be changed.
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“We at the Redskins respect everyone. But like devoted fans of the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Blackhawks (from President Obama’s hometown ), we love our team and its name and, like those fans, we do not intend to disparage or disrespect a racial or ethnic group.
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“The name ‘Washington Redskins’ is 80 years old – it’s our history and legacy and tradition. We Redskins fans sing ‘hail to the Redskins’ every Sunday as a word of honor not disparagement.”
The timing of this move is pretty convenient for the president and is a classic example of both the distraction politics this administration is good for and the lack of seriousness of his administration.
This is clearly petty revenge served up by a president who has little regard for the law or respect for free speech. Just because you are “offended” by something, doesn’t mean you get to violate other people’s rights. This move is obviously less about the Redskins than it is about the president’s thin skin.
